Missions

Project description
The project investigates the effects of fluctuating environmental conditions on the demography of animal populations.

Context: Oak trees (Quercus sp.) provide an illustrative case study of the dramatic among-year variation in seed production. The high fluctuation of oak acorn production shapes the dynamics of seed consumers such as birds, rodents and ungulates and by cascading effects, the dynamics of the whole community. Some organisms track environmental variation in resources by taking advantage of favorable years to increase their demographic performance (e.g. survival, reproduction), whereas they suffer from harsh years that decrease their demographic performance. In contrast, other organisms resist to environmental variation by exhibiting a quite constant demographic performance whatever the amount of resources.

Under global warming, the frequency and the intensity of acorn production are expected to change, leading to some potential major changes on the dynamics of seed consumer species but also on the dynamics of non-seed consumer sympatric species.
Objective: In this project, the postdoctoral researcher will:
(1) examine how oak acorn production shape the demographic

Activités

In this project, the postdoctoral researcher will:
(1) examine how oak acorn production shape the demographic performance of seed and non-seed consumer species within an intensively-studied temperate oak forest. To do so, the postdoc will benefit from individual long-term mark-recapture data collected on several sympatric species including ungulates, birds, reptiles, etc.
(2) develop a multi-species model, to forecast it under different scenarios of oak production, and determine if and when, there will be a shift (increase or collapse) in community dynamics under climate warming.

Compétences

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with the following profile:
- Strong interest in statistical modelling.
- Ability to work with large datasets.
- PhD in ecology with strong experience in the modelling of population dynamics (deep knowledge demography).
- Experience in the analysis of capture-mark-recapture datasets (E-SURGE, RMark, Bayesian approaches).
- Experience with the R software.
- Ability to work collaboratively both within a group and remotely.
- Rigour, good ability to write and to communicate results.

Contexte de travail

The new recruit will join the Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive (LBBE) laboratory on the LyonTech La Doua university campus in Villeurbanne (https://lbbe.univ-lyon1.fr). The postdoc will be supervised by Marlène Gamelon and Jean-Michel Gaillard (CNRS) in the team “Evolutionary biodemography” in the Biometry and Evolutionary Biology Laboratory in Villeurbanne (https://lbbe.univ-lyon1.fr). The project will involve collaboration with the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) and the Center for Biological Studies (CEBC-Chizé).
Our little extras:
- A stimulating work environment in contact with research staff
- Professional support with in-house laboratory training
- The possibility of teleworking - A company restaurant offering lunch at an attractive price.
- Partial reimbursement of transport costs (75%) + sustainable mobility package of up to €300/year
- A site accessible by public transport (Tram T1 + T4 + bus)
- 44 days vacation / RTT per year
- Financial contribution to health insurance costs.